News Links, April 16, 2012

"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attacked the European Union for imposing political conditions on an EU-IMF loan desperately needed by Budapest, in an interview on Friday.

"'Creating political conditions -- for example over the justice system -- would amount to blackmail, which is unacceptable within the European Union,' Orban told national radio MR1 in his weekly interview."

"The economic downturn that has shaken Europe for the last three years has also swept away the foundations of once-sturdy lives, leading to an alarming spike in suicide rates. Especially in the most fragile nations like Greece, Ireland and Italy, small-business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives in a phenomenon some European newspapers have started calling 'suicide by economic crisis.'"

India replaces China as Iran's top oil client"India has vaulted to the top of the list of Iran's oil customers, overtaking China, in a first-quarter buying surge ahead of tighter sanctions against Tehran this summer, data published by a leading industry consultant showed."

"As the fortunes of Asia's two largest economies diverge, Chinese companies are stepping up acquisitions in Japan—a trend likely to accelerate as it relies on China's growing wealth to help rebuild Japan's businesses.

"Over the past several months, Chinese companies have stepped in to save a string of Japanese companies that were desperate for funding."

"Considering everything, it's extremely unlikely that the economy expanded anywhere near the claimed 8.1% pace. The momentum at the moment is on the down side, and day after day we are witnessing a dynamic increasingly difficult to reverse."

Worst drought since 1976"More than half of Britain is now in drought, the Environment Agency has warned, as the UK faces its most severe water shortage since 1976."

## US ##Best Buy Announces Locations for Store Closings"Best Buy on Saturday announced the locations of 50 stores that it is closing this year, including seven in California, six in Illinois and six in the company's home state of Minnesota."